How Much Does Long-Term Care Actually Cost?

Long Island Medicaid planning attorneys can provide assistance in making sure you can cover the costs of long term care. Long-term care may become necessary at any age if you get sick or are injured and can no longer do activities of daily living on your own, such as eating or maintaining personal hygiene. As you get older, age and infirmity can also necessitate that you get long-term care.

Long-term care is very expensive, and is not affordable for most people if they must pay on their own. Unfortunately, Medicaid is typically the only type of insurance coverage that will pay for the regular routine long-term care which most people need due to disability, illness, age or infirmity. When you understand exactly how much long-term care costs, you will quickly see why you need to try to qualify for Medicaid ASAP to get this kind of care paid for.

Mark S. Eghrari & Associates PLLC can provide you with assistance in getting the costs of long term care covered. To find out more about how our firm can help you, give us a call today.

How Much Does Long-Term Care Actually Cost

The Department of Financial Services in New York State reported on the costs of long-term care, which is very expensive throughout all of New York State. According to information from the Department of Financial Services, the average cost of a nursing home in Long Island is $390 per day. This equates to a total average annual cost in Long Island of $142,350. This is considerably more expensive than other parts of the state, such as Central Nw York where the average cost of long-term care is $264 daily or $96,360 per year on average.

For seniors in Long Island, these costs are often very difficult to cover, especially as the Department of Financial Services indicates that the average stay in a nursing home is around 2 ½ years.

Even less intensive long-term care can be expensive. The average cost of home health care in New York State was $20 per hour in 2011. This would mean that for a senior who had a healthcare aid come to his house for just 20 hours a week, the total annual bill could reach $21,000 per year. Costs would be much higher for a senior who needed round-the-clock nursing care at home.

How Can You Pay for Long-Term Care?

Paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for nursing home care every single year is simply not within the budget of the vast majority of seniors, or others throughout New York, who may end up needing nursing home care.

Unfortunately, most insurance companies – including Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans – won’t pay for you to get long-term care if you only need routine custodial care. These insurers will only provide you with coverage for skilled medical services and this coverage will only allow you to stay in a nursing home for a brief duration of time. For example, you likely could get Medicare to pay for a nursing home after you undergo surgery if you need the bandages changed by a skilled care provider but this coverage might last only for a week or two.

Since the types of insurance plans you can buy, or access through qualifying for Medicare, won’t pay for routine care in a nursing home, you’ll have to pay out of pocket if you need custodial care. This would mean spending your entire life savings very quickly, in most cases, since paying $390 per day or more gets very expensive. Some nursing homes, including those providing services to Alzheimer’s patients or others with special needs, would actually be much more than this average cost.

If you don’t want to pay out of pocket, trying to qualify for Medicaid may be the best option you have, since Medicaid pays for custodial care. Medicaid is one of the primary sources of payments for all nursing home patients nationwide. The problem is, Medicaid is means-tested, so you must spend down your assets anyway to get Medicaid… unless you have made an advanced Medicaid plan.

Getting Help from Long Island Medicaid Planning Attorneys

Long Island Medicaid planning attorneys can help you to qualify for Medicaid coverage while still protecting your assets. It is best to begin the Medicaid planning process as early as possible, as there are rules that can result in temporary disqualification from Medicaid if you try to transfer assets within five years of the time you apply for benefits. Give us a call at (631) 265-0599 or contact us online to find out how Mark S. Eghrari & Associates PLLC can help you to make your plans to get Medicaid to cover your care.

Mark S. Eghrari is an attorney in private practice in Smithtown, New York. He has been in practice since 1988. Mark S. Eghrari provides extensive estate and tax planning services to individuals and businesses. Mr. Eghrari’s primary focus is helping clients avoid probate, minimize or eliminate Federal and State Estate taxes and protect their assets from the high cost of nursing care, if they become ill.

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